The Crayon Papers

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    “The peddler admired the hospitality of his host, but could not reconcile it to his conscience to go away without making some recompense. There were honest Simon’s two daughters, two strapping, red-haired girls. He opened his packs and displayed riches before them of which they had no conception; for in those days there were no country stores in those parts, with their artificial finery and trinketry; and this was the first peddler that had wandered into that part of the wilderness. The girls were for a time completely dazzled, and knew not what to choose: but what caught their eyes most were two looking-glasses, about the size of a dollar, set in gilt tin. They had never seen the like before, having used no other mirror than a pail of water. The peddler presented them these jewels, without the least hesitation; nay, he gallantly hung them round their necks by red ribbons, almost as fine as the glasses themselves. This done, he took his departure, leaving them as much astonished as two princesses in a fairy tale that have received a magic gift from an enchanter.
    “It was with these looking-glasses, hung round their necks as lockets, by red ribbons, that old Schultz’s daughters made their appearance at three o’clock in the afternoon, at the frolic at Bob Mosely’s, on the Pigeon Roost Fork of the Muddy.
    “By the powers, but it was an event! Such a thing had never before been seen in Kentucky. Bob Tarleton, a strapping fellow, with a head like a chestnut-burr and a look like a boar in an apple orchard, stepped up, caught hold of the looking-glass of one of the girls, and gazing at it for a moment, cried out: ‘Joe Taylor, come here! come here! I’ll be darn’d if Patty Schultz ain’t got a locket that you can see your face in, as clear as in a spring of water!’
    “In a twinkling all the young hunters gathered round old Schultz’s daughters. I, who knew what looking-glasses were, did not budge. Some of the girls who sat near me were excessively mortified at finding themselves thus deserted. I heard Peggy Pugh say to Sally Pigman, ‘Goodness knows, it’s well Schultz’s daughters is got them things round their necks, for it’s the first time the young men crowded round them!’
    “I saw immediately the danger of the case. We were a small community, and could not afford to be split up by feuds. So I stepped up to the girls, and whispered to them: ‘Polly,’ said I, ‘those lockets are powerful fine, and become you amazingly; but you don’t consider that the country is not advanced enough in these parts for such things. You and I understand these matters, but these people don’t. Fine things like these may do very well in the old settlements, but they won’t answer at the Pigeon Roost Fork of the Muddy. You had better lay them aside for the present, or we shall have no peace.’
    “Polly and her sister luckily saw their error; they took off the lockets, laid them aside, and harmony was restored: otherwise, I verily believe there would have been an end of our community. Indeed, notwithstanding the great sacrifice they made on this occasion, I do not think old Schultz’s daughters were ever much liked afterward among the young women.
    “This was the first time that looking-glasses were ever seen in the Green
River part of Kentucky.
    “I had now lived some time with old Miller, and had become a tolerably expert hunter. Game, however, began to grow scarce. The buffalo had gathered together, as if by universal understanding, and had crossed the Mississippi, never to return. Strangers kept pouring into the country, clearing away the forests and building in all directions. The hunters began to grow restive. Jemmy Kiel, the same of whom I have already spoken for his skill in raccoon catching, came to me one day: ‘I can’t stand this any longer,’ said he; ‘we’re getting too thick here. Simon Schultz crowds me so that I have no comfort of my life.’
    “‘Why, how you talk!’ said I; ‘Simon Schultz lives twelve miles off.’
    “‘No matter; his cattle run with mine, and I’ve no idea of living where another man’s cattle can run with mine. That’s too close neighborhood; I want elbow-room. This country, too, is growing too poor to live in; there’s no game; so two or three of us have made up our minds to follow the buffalo to the Missouri, and we should like to have you of the party.’ Other hunters of my acquaintance talked in the same manner. This set me thinking; but